State sees November start for construction of 9/11 memorial in Jersey City

Frederic Schwartz Architects renderingThe "Empty Sky'' memorial will direct visitors' attention to the hole in the New York skyline, as seen from Liberty State Park in Jersey City, where the World Trade Center towers stood.

Andy Pratt, spokesman for the state Department of the Treasury, said the state plans to put out bids for construction of the memorial's two congruent walls in late October, with actual construction slated to begin in November.

Pratt said the deadline for the memorial's completion is next August - just before the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

"We're obviously working on a very tight deadline," Pratt said.

While the original design came with a $23 million price tag, Pratt says the current budget is closer to $13 million, with $6 million coming from the state and the rest from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The memorial will consist of two steel-plated walls that form a walkway to the Hudson River. Each wall will be 30 feet high and 200 feet long to give visitors the feeling of walking between the World Trade Center towers.

The walls will be visually aligned with where the Twin Towers once stood.